Treasury may try to rescue festivals

THE Treasury could step in to support some of this year’s biggest summer music festivals after organisers struggled to get cancellation insurance.

It is understood a plan has been discussed that would see the Treasury work closely with insurers to design an indemnity scheme backed by taxpayers to protect against losses.

Minister of State for Digital and Culture Caroline Dinenage said: ‘We understand [insurance] is a barrier to many live music events being able to take place later on in the year, and we’re in discussion with our colleagues in the Treasury about that.’

The intervention could provide a much-needed boost to the hospitality industry. The talks come as Glastonbury – due to have been held in June – was cancelled for the second year in a row because of the pandemic.

The House of Commons culture committee has written to the Chancellor calling for a Governmentbacked Covid insurance scheme.

Julian Knight, chair of the committee, warned that Britain risks becoming a ‘cultural wasteland’ if action is not taken soon to support musical events.

‘We are world leaders when it comes to festivals, but we’re not going to have any events if the Government doesn’t back the insurers,’ he said.

The Treasury said: ‘We are helping festivals with the £1.5billion culture recovery fund and we will continue to work with organisers to address the barriers they face to restarting – including challenges getting insurance.’